Finally free
by pamy
Summary: It rained the day the Cullens finally returned to Forks. To fill the hole Bella left behind. What they find will destroy them forever. AU. New moon. No eclipse. One shot.


**I'm not sure where this story came from. Still I decided to write it. Hope you'll all like it. Please review.**

**Don't own twilight. Nor the movies. Don't own the pack either. (Though I wouldn't mind owning one of those wolves. Especially if they turned into hot guys. I mean who wouldn't want that?)**

* * *

It rains the day they finally return to Forks.

It's not really surprising. It's calming. It's as if the rain is there to prove to them that everything is still the same. That nothing has changed. That they will find what they are looking for. That they'll make everything better. That now they can try and find what they have lost. They can go back to how they once were. Beg for forgiveness. They can try to make their family whole again. Fill the hole that Bella left behind.

The hole that is threatening to tear them apart.

It shouldn't be so hard. They have not been gone for that long. It has been just a year. Yet somehow even to them it seemed like so much longer. They have however come full circle. Tomorrow it is Bella's birthday. They will make everything alright again. They will surprise her and pick up where they left off. It will be as if they never left at all. It might take some time, but eventually things will go back to how it once was.

It rains the day they finally return to Forks. They don't think about it. It seems normal. Inevitable.

It is not a bad omen.

* * *

The Swan residence is deserted.

It is almost as if nobody has ever lived there all. An they can't understand why. Their first thought is that perhaps Bella went to college. But that does not make sense either. They try to understand but they fail. Alice has foreseen nothing. - _And they don't know she can not see the wolves. And so they do not know what she has not seen. What she has missed. - _It's as if nobody has ever stepped foot inside the house. When they look around it they don't notice much difference thought. It still looks the same.

But it's to quiet. It feels deserted.

As if Bella and Charlie left abruptly. Without warning. Without reason. Everything they own is still there. But they are not. They wish they understood but they do not. Their scent still lingers their however. But it's weak. Very weak. It's as if they haven't been there for months. Edward is the first to break free of the group. He follows what is left of Bella's scent. Hoping it will lead him strait to her.

He'll regret it for the rest of eternity.

* * *

A name. Two dates. The end of a life.

They'll wish forever they had never seen this. That they did not know. That they had never returned. They are all shocked. Though none as much as Edward. If they could have cried, they would have. But they can't. So they just stand there. Staring at her name. _Isabella Swan._ And the two dates. The dates that mark the beginning and the end of her life.

It was just a name. But it meant so much more.

It was all that was left of the girl they once knew. It told them so much of what had happened since they left. And yet it told them nothing at the same time. It does not tell them what happened to her. What happened to them. Charlie Swan is buried next to his daughter. Having died the same day she did. Slowly they begin to realize there are more graves. They are all buried together. As if they belong together. Even in death.

One by one. Side by side. The entire pack is buried there.

_All except for one. _

* * *

The date is the same for all of them.

It's a date that they will never forget. Ironically enough it is the same date their family came together again. It's the date they finally convinced Edward they should return. But they had decided to wait. For what they were not sure. Now they know that they should have returned that day. Perhaps they could have saved her.

Perhaps they could have saved them.

* * *

In the end there's only one member of the pack left.

It's strange he's the only one to survive. For he was the most reckless of them all. And yet he was still there. Now that everybody else was gone, he was in fact the Alpha. But there were no other wolves. All if his brothers _– his entire family - _was gone. Dead. They would never return. And he was left here on earth. To remember how he had lost them. To remember how he had failed them.

The scent fills him with rage.

Vampire. He hates the word. He hates everything about it. If it were not for those damn leeches none of this would have ever happened. None of them would have phased. Bella would not have been in danger. Victoria would not have been in Forks. His friends, his brothers, would still be alive. And he would not be alone. His first instinct is to go find these vampires.

He expects friends of Victoria. He does not expect them.

This is all their fault.

* * *

Billy Black was sure his end was near.

He had lost it all. He had lost his son. His only son. He had lost his two best friends. He had lost Bella and everybody else of the pack. The only thing he had truly left were his daughters. But they lived far away. And they hardly ever came. They did return for their brother's funeral of course. But they could not understand what had happened. Had they arrived at another time they might have known.

Paul had imprinted that day.

On his daughter. At another time. In another life Billy would have hated this. At another time. In another life Paul would have acted on it. But neither one cared anymore. They had lost so much. There was nothing left. And the truth was that not even the pull of his imprint was strong enough to save Paul. It would be the first time an imprint was ever denied.

But it did not matter. They had already lost it all.

Now they were just waiting for the end to come.

* * *

The memory of that day will never leave his mind.

Paul is sure it will haunt him till the day he died. He still can't believe it truly happened. They had been so happy. And then it had all disappeared. The leech _– Victoria Bella had called her - _returned. With a small army of vampires. And they had miscalculated. It had been a simple mistake. Just a little one. But the price they paid for it had been high.

He had not been there for the beginning.

But he does know what happened. Leah had been the first to die. It would have been Seth. It probably should have been Seth. But Leah had set out to protect him. In the end she had failed. All she had done was buy him ten more minutes of life. Seth followed next. Paul is glad that at least his death had been relatively painless. Then there had been Charlie. Charlie was not supposed to be there. But he had been.

Quill and Embry came next.

He's never been sure, nor will he ever be, which one of them dies first. He supposes he will never truly know. It's not like it truly matters. It's not like it will save them. It's not like it will turn back time. Paul had tried to arrive there in time. As had Sam. They had just arrived for the ending. Bella had frozen at the sight of her father's dead body. And of course Jacob had protected her. He had been next. Bella soon followed. Jared had died after Bella but before Sam. It had been an attemtp to save his Alpha. He didn't succeed.

Sam Lasted the longest. But in the end he didn't live.

Paul had lived. He had killed the leech and he had lived. He had triumphed. He had won the war. But he wishes everyday he had lost. Then he wouldn't be alone. He went around to all of his brothers. To Bella. In an attempt to wake them up. Even though he knew they would never wake up. He had lied next to Sam in complete defeat. He wanted to die as well. He wanted to join his brothers.

The wolf howled at the full moon. His howl was filled with pain. Agony.

Everybody in La Push and Forks heard it. And they all knew. The pack had lost.

The howling lasted for an hour.

Silence followed.

* * *

The Cullens have not moved from their spot.

They do not know what happened. Nor do they truly want to. They wish they had never left. They wish they had never come back. They wish they had never known. Never known the truth. It's the stench of dog that finally wakes them up. A wolf is slowly coming towards them. It does not care it is breaking the treaty. It will not let these leeches stand in front of his brother's and sister's graves. He will not let them mourn their deaths.

The deaths they caused.

The lone wolf attacks without thinking. It knows it can not win. But it wants to die. It has been wanting to die since his family did. And now he has finally found a way. It jumps at Edward. But it's Emmett who jumps in to protect his brother. The wolf is thrown backwards. But it does not give up. It keeps coming back. Until eventually it lands next to Jared's grave. And there it stays. Without moving. Until eventually he to dies.

The Cullens stare at the graves again. Edward turns around and runs away.

_Somewhere far away a clock strikes twelve. _

* * *

The graves stay silent.

They do not tell stories. They are just stones after all. Stones with names and dates engraved on them. They do not tell them what has been. They do not tell what should have been. It does not tell them what happened. Nor how it could have been prevented. It does not tell them of Quill and Embry. Nor does it tell them the story of Sam and Emily. It does not tell them of Kim.

It does not tell them of the new found love.

It doesn't tell them Bella fell in love. They will never know how happy she was in the end. How full of live. They will not know she moved on. They will not know of the family they formed. Of how much they loved each other. They will never find out. Perhaps they should have. Maybe they would have felt better. Or maybe they would have felt worse. In the end it doesn't matter.

Eventually they leave that place. The next day they leave Forks.

They will never return.

* * *

Claire will never know.

She will miss Quill forever, but she will never know the truth. Nobody will ever tell her. After all there's nothing to tell. She would never believe them. Quill had been the best big brother ever. And she will never know what happened. She will never find true love. She had lost her other half. And she'll never know. Nobody will take her out on her first date. Nobody will ever love her enough.

And she'll never understand why.

******

Kim will be lost forever.

She will know the full story. But she will never truly understand. All she will know is that she is lost. She has lost the person she loved the most. The person that kept her alive. Everything evolved around him. And now he was gone. And she was lost. Nothing could keep her here. She had nothing left. There was nothing holding her secure. Nothing holding her standing.

She will be the next victim.

******

Emily will never be the princess.

She will never have the wedding she dreamed of. Never again will she see Sam. Her house looks deserted. The scars on her face have never been more visible that now. She is lost. The wedding gown she and Leah had picked out was so beautiful. She will never wear it. Sam will never see her in it. Leah will never laugh with her again. The food in her house will slowly go to waste. There is nobody left to eat it all.

Her wedding dress will disappear in the back of her closet.

Gone from sight. As if it never exited it all. Along with all of her dreams.

Gone forever.

*******

Sarah will never know.

She'll never know how or why her brother died. She'll never know she met the love of her live. She'll never know that true happiness was a couple of feet away. And she let it slip trough her hands. She had felt the pull. As if an invisible hand was guiding her towards Paul. But he had run away from her. Left her there standing. Unable to understand what was happening.

The news of his dead broke her. She doesn't know why.

She'll never return to La Push.

* * *

Billy keeps waiting.

He keeps waiting for death to come and take him away. He does not know when it will come. But he knows it will be soon. Until that time comes all he can do is wait. All he does all day long is stare at the ocean. And sometimes he can hear them laugh. All of them.

Once he swore he even saw them.

Running around on the beach. Laughing. Having the time of their lives. Free of all worries. Closer to the sea were Harry and Charlie. Fishing. A seat was open next to them. They were waiting for him. It was the day Paul died. And he watched as Paul joined them. Now they were whole again. Now they were together again. He only saw them for a few seconds.

But he knew it had been real. And he knew they were happy.

_They were finally free. Just like they always should have been._


End file.
